Recently had an opportunity to deal in a matter involving S 148 of the Income Tax Act, wherein the assessee was served with a notice under the aegis of the abovementioned section. To my utter surprise when I looked prima facie at the Section it just mentioned that the Assessing officer had grounds to believe that there existed an evasion of income tax, but nowhere specified the grounds of belief. Much worse the notice even failed to spell out the exact action which department intended to take against the client. As a natural reaction, I filed a legal representation before the Hon’ble Department, requesting the said information which could enable me to file a reply to the said notice. The Department rejected my request and directing that I comply with their directions of filing return (that too preferably revised return), and only once I have done the same I would be eligible for the “reason to believe”, and subsequently I could challenge the same.
It is important to note herein that various Hon’ble Supreme Court and various Hon’ble High Courts have already adjudicated in this regard, and held that such notice without disclosing reasons to believe is no notice at all. Despite this, it is the sad reality that the department continues with this practice of not disclosing the reasons to believe, and wasting time and resources both of the department and the assessee.